Page 5 of The Promise

Entirely numb.

Who was Roman?

Who was he really?

Despite being told to explore, she didn’t do much as Roman and Masha’s voice carried out from the back hall. She did marvel a bit at the touchscreen panel on a pane of the glass that controlled everything from the automatic blinds covering the glass dome-shaped walls to the massive, curved flatscreen television next to the oversized, squared leather sectional. There was even a full-fledged bar at the corner of the living space, melding between there and the dining space.

The apartment seemed fit for a man who had priorities for a good time, and few responsibilities. A bachelor’s life. There she was, ready to disrupt it all.

She still couldn’t come up with a single good reason why he would have willingly done this—taken her.

“Hey.”

Roman’s firm, but not unkind tone, had Karine jumping in her skin. She hadn’t heard him come back into the room. Spinning around, she found him standing at the entry of the hall, his shoulder pressed into another one of those black marble pillars as he looked her over.

Masha was nowhere in sight, clearly having chosen to stay out of focus. Maybe wisely.

Karine licked nervously at her bottom lip, determined not to blurt her thoughts, and making a conscious effort to keep the words inside the longer he stared and said nothing.

“What?” she eventually asked.

A little too sharply.

Roman still gave her a crooked smile—it was just as tempting as everything else. Then, he told her, “Just because I was forced in to taking you doesn’t mean that I didn’t want to.”

She hadn’t expected that.

“Why?” she asked.

Seconds ticked on as he took in a deep breath, and his shoulders rose and fell from the effort. His reply wasn’t what she was looking for. “I don’t really have an answer for that, Karine.”

“That’s a lie.”

If he could say he wanted something, then he should be able to say why. Besides, everything else about her life was a lie. It wouldn’t even hurt her feelings if he lied about this, too.

“The real question is whether you want to know the truth,” Roman returned just as fast, never once breaking her stare. “Because that requires accepting certain things, you know? I think we’ve both established you have—just a bit—of a problem doing that in different aspects. Think about it.”

That truth was cold.

He also wasn’t wrong.

Karine chose not to reply, and that time, it wasn’t hard to keep the prattle of words induced by her anxiety and fears inside. Maybe he understood her better than she was willing to admit.

She still thought he shouldn’t.

TWO

Roman woke up already tired the second he opened his eyes. Back in a familiar bed, in his own apartment, he could almost believe for a second that it had all been a bad dream. The sounds of a city he knew well told him he wasn’t in Chicago anymore, and that only meant one thing.

There was a beautiful, troubled woman sleeping in one of the other bedrooms. He really didn’t have the time to enjoy being back in his bed, considering that little detail.

Swinging his legs off the bed in a rush to start his day, a splintering pain pierced through his ribcage. Reminding him all at once that nothing was a fucking dream. He groaned, pressing a palm to the most tender rib as he straightened up.

One breath.

Then, another.

It really didn’t get easier.